Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of practice sessions by heading the final hour of running before qualifying before the United States Grand Prix.
But the Mercedes driver was less than a tenth of a second faster than championship rival Sebastian Vettel.
The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers took to the track together for their qualifying simulation runs on the ultra-soft tyre around quarter of an hour before the end. Hamilton came out ahead despite a scruffy end to his lap. He later set the fastest time for the final sector on another lap which was slower overall.
Vettel, driving a new chassis following his overnight change, was just over a tenth of a second quicker than Valtteri Bottas. Kimi Raikkonen was next, less than three-tenths of a second covering the top four.
The Red Bull drivers had a more challenging session. Max Verstappen had a brief off at turn seven which appeared to be caused by a gust of wing. He then lost time during a Virtual Safety Car as Romain Grosjean spun his Haas into a gravel trap at the same point on the circuit.
Daniel Ricciardo ended up ninth as several drivers lost time in traffic at the end of the session. Felipe Massa and the two closely-matched Renault drivers were ahead of him. Sergio Perez beat Force India team mate Esteban Ocon to the final place in the top ten.
Daniil Kvyat endured a frustrating session, covering just six laps before being confined to the pits with a technical problem.
Third practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’34.478
+0.092 Sebastian Vettel – 1’34.570
+0.214 Valtteri Bottas – 1’34.692
+0.277 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’34.755
+0.625 Max Verstappen – 1’35.103
+0.868 Felipe Massa – 1’35.346
+1.130 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’35.608
+1.172 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’35.650
+1.245 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’35.723
+1.324 Sergio Perez – 1’35.802
+1.487 Esteban Ocon – 1’35.965
+1.640 Lance Stroll – 1’36.118
+1.761 Fernando Alonso – 1’36.239
+2.121 Stoffel Vandoorne – 1’36.599
+2.340 Brendon Hartley – 1’36.818
+2.793 Kevin Magnussen – 1’37.271
+2.841 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.319
+3.329 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’37.807
+3.413 Romain Grosjean – 1’37.891
+4.022 Daniil Kvyat – 1’38.500
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
Combined practice times
| Pos | Driver | Car | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Fri/Sat diff | Total laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’36.335 | 1’34.668 | 1’34.478 | -0.19 | 59 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’36.928 | 1’35.192 | 1’34.570 | -0.622 | 50 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’36.979 | 1’35.279 | 1’34.692 | -0.587 | 66 |
| 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’37.598 | 1’35.514 | 1’34.755 | -0.759 | 66 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’37.339 | 1’35.065 | 1’35.103 | +0.038 | 65 |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 1’37.570 | 1’36.460 | 1’35.346 | -1.114 | 64 |
| 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-TAG Heuer | 1’39.366 | 1’35.463 | 1’35.723 | +0.26 | 55 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’38.904 | 1’36.534 | 1’35.608 | -0.926 | 58 |
| 9 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’38.093 | 1’36.529 | 1’35.650 | -0.879 | 70 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.861 | 1’36.481 | 1’35.802 | -0.679 | 64 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Force India-Mercedes | 1’37.808 | 1’36.490 | 1’35.965 | -0.525 | 76 |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Williams-Mercedes | 1’38.534 | 1’37.788 | 1’36.118 | -1.67 | 64 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Honda | 1’36.304 | 1’36.239 | -0.065 | 47 | |
| 14 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren-Honda | 1’37.352 | 1’37.463 | 1’36.599 | -0.753 | 71 |
| 15 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’36.761 | 1’38.500 | +1.739 | 46 | |
| 16 | Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’39.267 | 1’37.987 | 1’36.818 | -1.169 | 95 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1’38.408 | 1’37.285 | 1’37.271 | -0.014 | 49 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.448 | 1’38.262 | 1’37.319 | -0.943 | 58 |
| 19 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’38.165 | 1’37.807 | -0.358 | 50 | |
| 20 | Romain Grosjean | Haas-Ferrari | 1’39.336 | 1’38.387 | 1’37.891 | -0.496 | 52 |
| 21 | Sean Gelael | Toro Rosso-Renault | 1’40.406 | 25 | |||
| 22 | Charles Leclerc | Sauber-Ferrari | 1’40.828 | 25 |
Best times by tyre – final practice
| Driver | Team | Best ultra-soft time | Ultra-soft gap | Best super-soft time | Super-soft gap | Best soft time | Soft gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1’34.478 | None | None | |||
| Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1’34.692 | 0.214 | None | None | ||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | 1’35.723 | 1.245 | None | None | ||
| Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1’35.103 | 0.625 | None | None | ||
| Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1’34.570 | 0.092 | 4’01.096 | 144.332 | None | |
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1’34.755 | 0.277 | 4’19.096 | 162.332 | None | |
| Sergio Perez | Force India | 1’35.802 | 1.324 | 1’36.988 | 0.224 | None | |
| Esteban Ocon | Force India | 1’35.965 | 1.487 | 1’36.764 | None | ||
| Felipe Massa | Williams | 1’35.346 | 0.868 | None | None | ||
| Lance Stroll | Williams | 1’36.118 | 1.64 | None | 8’20.096 | 399.293 | |
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1’36.239 | 1.761 | None | None | ||
| Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren | 1’36.599 | 2.121 | None | None | ||
| Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | None | 1’38.500 | 1.736 | None | ||
| Brendon Hartley | Toro Rosso | 1’36.818 | 2.34 | None | 1’40.803 | ||
| Romain Grosjean | Haas | None | 1’37.891 | 1.127 | None | ||
| Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1’37.271 | 2.793 | 1’37.668 | 0.904 | None | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | 1’35.608 | 1.13 | None | None | ||
| Carlos Sainz Jnr | Renault | 1’35.650 | 1.172 | None | None | ||
| Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1’37.319 | 2.841 | None | 4’09.096 | 148.293 | |
| Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber | 1’37.807 | 3.329 | None | 4’15.096 | 154.293 |
Don’t forget your Predictions Championship entry
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2017 United States Grand Prix
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Predictions Championship results
- 2017 United States Grand Prix team radio transcript
- 2017 United States Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton only needs fifth – but we’ve heard that before…
- “Can you tell Esteban to let me by?”: US GP team radio highlights
HUHHII (@huhhii)
21st October 2017, 18:14
Exploiting the run-off area at Turn 19 was taken to farcical levels in FP3. Here’s hoping stewards start to work in qualifying and every single lap time will be deleted if driver fails to stay on track.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
21st October 2017, 19:13
@huhhii I agree.
Mikael André (@meko1971)
21st October 2017, 19:21
@huhhii +1
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
21st October 2017, 19:21
This is silly. At the lowest levels of competitive motorsport – SCCA Autocross which is great – this is not an issue. Our course is defined with traffic cones placed in chalked ‘boxes’. Knock one out or over and it costs you two seconds to your time. Big incentive. No debates. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55df1545e4b07afa632b0342/t/57d2c13329687f368b6087c6/1473429827825/DSC_0712.JPG?format=1500w
Of course, this being F1, they could make them out of some massively expensive blend of carbon fibre and silicone. But really – can’t this problem be solved?
Philip (@philipgb)
21st October 2017, 19:21
I think there’s a very good chance Hamilton could take the record for most Grand Chelems in a single season this weekend if he takes his fourth this year.
FlatSix (@)
21st October 2017, 21:59
@philipgb More impressive really would be if he could take consecutive ones, which only Clark and Vettel have achieved.
FlatSix (@)
21st October 2017, 22:02
@philipgb Apparently Ascari did so too, which I wasn’t aware off.
Understeer (@abdelilah)
21st October 2017, 20:24
@keithcollantine But the Mercedes drivers
Do you mean “But the Mercedes driver”